#135: The Noble Hardee Mansion on Monterey Square

"In the discharge of duties, my guide will be the Constitution,

which I this day swear to preserve, protect, and defend."

—President Zachary Taylor

The Noble Hardee Mansion on Monterey Square

The Noble Hardee Mansion, painted en Plein air on a beautiful day in May, is located at the intersection of Bull Street and West Gordon Street in the Savannah Historic District.

The property was purchased in 1854 by Noble A. Hardee for $2000. The Hardee Family had become a prominent family in Savannah circles. Early triumph and tragedy consumed the life of Noble Hardee.

Noble Hardee distinguished himself as a Georgia House of Representatives member by age twenty-five. And by the age of 30, he'd suffered through several personal tragedies, to included the loss of his son, a daughter, and his beloved wife. Hardee made his fortune in Savannah running various businesses, including banking, insurance, and real estate.

Construction on the Nobel Hardee Mansion began in 1860 but was delayed by the American Civil War. The original design called for a single-family home; it was later altered to a double house layout and then redesigned in the 1880s to the current single-family dwelling of over 6800 square feet.

Tragedy continued to follow Mr. Hardee when in 1867, he died suddenly while on vacation in New York. Bonaventure Cemetery, just outside Savannah (see PFS-77, see PFS-78, see PFS-79, and see PFS-80), now is the setting of his final resting place. Sadly, Noble Hardee never lived in the house named for him, as the completion of its construction in 1869 followed his death.

In more recent years, Alexander Raskin owned the home. Since the early 1990s, Mr. Raskin ran an excellent antique shop from the property. Around 2013, plans were made but quickly fell through to restore and then convert the house into a boutique hotel, fine restaurant, and art gallery.

More recently, news reports suggest that Ralston College, founded by philosopher Stephen Blackwood, will soon establish itself in the Noble Hardee Mansion. The college aims to open for classes in the fall term of 2022 and claims its purpose is to "…revive and reinvent the traditional university."

There is little doubt that Monterey Square makes a fabulous location for a new venture like Ralston College. Many of my Postcards from Savannah series are paintings from this beautiful area. The center of Monterey Square features the Casimir Pulaski Monument (see PFS-68), honoring the Polish nobleman and Revolutionary War hero who died in The Battle of Savannah in 1779.

The Rogers Houses, designed by architect John Norris, are found nearby (see PFS-17). And I thoroughly enjoyed both painting and then telling the story of the Congregation Mickve Israel (see PFS-20).

The infamous home of Jim Williams, Savannah's most popular mansion for tourists, built on Monterey Square during a similar time period as the Noble Hardee Mansion (1860-1871), is here, too. The red-bricked Mercer-Williams House (see PFS-01) is widely known as the residence of the late Jim Williams, who was the real-life character in John Berendt's book: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Similar to the fate of Noble Hardee, Hugh Mercer, grandfather to song-writer and Savannah native Johnny Mercer, likewise never did live in the house that bore his name.

Monterey Square resides in Savannah's Monterey Ward. The Square and the Ward were laid out in 1847 to honor an American military victory in the Mexican-American War in 1846. General Zachary Taylor led the American forces during that war. The victory led straight to Taylor's election as President in 1848.